Service Design Lead

Good Growth is responsible for delivering and implementing the Mayor’s environment, transport and economic strategies and for the effective implementation of the London Plan. The Directorate is also responsible for regeneration (where the programme is not housing led), enterprise, growth, capital projects and design work.

London is a city recognised as the global capital for arts and culture. Our theatres, music venues, museums and galleries are renowned across the world. Our creative industries are vital to London’s success and the recording studios, rehearsal spaces, artists' workspaces, grassroots music, and LGBTQ+ venues all contribute to this success.

The Culture, Creative Industries and 24-Hour London portfolio at the Greater London Authority focuses on supporting London’s cultural and creative economy, strengthening cultural infrastructure, and ensuring the city functions as a global, inclusive 24‑hour city. This includes overseeing major projects such as Creative Enterprise Zones, London Borough of Culture, the Fourth Plinth commission, and initiatives that support the night‑time economy.

Alongside programme delivery, the team is preparing for devolved powers of licensing to the Mayor—working with boroughs, the police, industry and communities to ensure that licensing and regulatory frameworks support vibrancy, safety and economic growth while balancing local impacts.

The Culture, Creative Industries and 24-Hour London Unit, in partnership with teams across the Greater London Authority (GLA), is leading an exciting new government-backed pilot to establish strategic licensing powers for the Mayor of London. This high-profile initiative is a cornerstone of the Government’s and Mayor’s shared growth agenda—unlocking opportunities for London’s hospitality, cultural and nighttime economies.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Culture, Creative Industries and 24 Hour London (CCI24) Unit delivering the Mayor’s and the Strategic Licensing policy. You’ll be at the heart of a fast-paced, cross-organisational effort to design and implement new licensing powers—with the ambition to launch by Summer 2026.

This is a unique opportunity to:

• Support and shape a new policy and regulatory function within the GLA
• Drive innovation in how licensing supports London’s economic and cultural vibrancy
• Work with senior stakeholders across government, industry, and the city
• Make a visible impact on how London works, plays, and grows

As Service Design Lead for Strategic Licensing you will shape, steer and deliver the service design approach, working across policy teams, project stakeholders and multidisciplinary specialists. You will guide and coordinate service design activity for the project and may manage or matrix-manage other user-centred design professionals, depending on project needs. You will be working through the entire design and delivery process, from framing problems, understanding, and visualising the service landscapes for teams, improving and reimagining end-to-end services, visualising processes, services and products and supporting their implementation.

What your day will look like:

• Setting the service design approach for a brand-new licensing function, aligning methods, priorities and artefacts with policy intent, user needs and the Mayor’s strategic goals.
• Guiding user researchers, content designers, interaction designers and analysts through complex problem spaces, helping them design together and make evidence-based decisions at pace.
• Visualising end-to-end services, mapping processes, and producing high-quality artefacts that help senior leaders, policy teams and delivery partners understand how the new licensing system should work.
• Embedding accessibility, sustainability and equity into every stage of the service, and integrating insights from research, data and lived experience to shape decisions.
• Running co-design sessions with senior stakeholders, quality-assuring supplier outputs, mentoring designers, and ensuring the emerging service is feasible, user-centred and ready for implementation.

Skills, knowledge and experience:

To be considered for the role you must meet the following essential criteria:

• Proven experience leading service design in complex and large-scale programmes, using evidence-based approaches and design systems to deliver simple, scalable solutions across multiple services.
• The skills to mentor and coach multidisciplinary teams in iterative, user-centred design practices, embedding continuous improvement and outcome-focused delivery.
• The ability to set standards for service design and inclusive design practices, guiding teams from discovery through implementation while ensuring accessibility, legal compliance and excellent user experiences.
• The capability to lead the strategic use of data, user research and insight to inform service design decisions, develop data-driven strategies, and drive innovation and effectiveness.
• The ability to facilitate complex co-design sessions and build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, confidently managing expectations, navigating difficult discussions and aligning diverse perspectives.
• The expertise to define and lead strategic service design direction within the programme, influencing decision-making through compelling narratives, championing design value and shaping policies that embed accessibility and user-centred design.

Planning and Organising… is thinking ahead, managing time, priorities and risk, and developing structured and efficient approaches to deliver work on time and to a high standard.

Exchanges ideas and knowledge with partners, subject-matter experts, and senior stakeholders to foster new research agendas and derive insights for the GLA. Takes accountability for the quality of intelligence that research and new policy are based upon. Encourages new and innovative insights from analysis. Evaluates the feasibility and cost effectiveness of research proposals, stringently assessing whether the research will add real value. Encourages research with a highly practical focus and maximum impact for Londoners… is consulting with, listening to and understanding the needs of those our work impacts and using this knowledge to shape what we do and manage others’ expectations.

Understands diverse stakeholder needs and tailors team deliverables accordingly. Is a role model to others, encouraging them to think of Londoners first. Manages stakeholder expectations, so they are high but realistic. Removes barriers to understanding the needs of diverse stakeholders, including hard to reach groups. Focuses own and team’s efforts on delivering a quality and committed service.

Communicating and influencing… is presenting information and arguments clearly and convincingly so that others see us as credible and articulate, and engage with us. Encourages and supports teams in engaging in transparent and inclusive communication. Influences others and gains buy-in using compelling, well thought through arguments. Negotiates effectively to deliver GLA priorities. Synthesises the complex viewpoints of others, recognises where compromise is necessary and brokers agreement. Advocates positively for the GLA both within and outside the organisation.

Strategic thinking… is using an understanding of the bigger picture to uncover potential challenges and opportunities for the long term and turning these into a compelling vision for action. Translates GLA vision and strategy into practical and tangible plans for own team or delivery partners. Consistently takes account of the wider implications of team’s actions for the GLA. Encourages self and others to think about organisation’s long term potential. Informs strategy development by identifying gaps in current delivery or evidence. Takes account of a wide range of public and partner needs to inform team’s work.

Decision making… is forming sound, evidence-based judgements, making choices, assessing risks to delivery, and taking accountability for results. Makes sound decisions quickly on behalf of the GLA when a situation requires intervention. Takes responsibility for team decisions, providing rationale when those decisions are questioned. Involves senior stakeholders early in decisions that impact them. Analyses organisational risks associated with decisions, including those with long term impacts, before committing to action. Encourages others in the team to make decisions in their own area of expertise, take appropriate risks and learn from experience.

Problem solving… is analysing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions. Clarifies ambiguous problems, questioning assumptions to reach a fuller understanding. Actively challenges the status quo to find new ways of doing things, looking for good practice. Seeks and incorporates diverse perspectives to help produce workable strategies to address complex issues. Initiates consultation on opportunities to improve work processes. Supports the organisation to implement innovative suggestions.

Research and analysis… is gathering intelligence (information, opinion and data) from varied sources, making sense of it, testing its validity and drawing conclusions that can lead to practical benefits. Expands networks to gain new information sources for research and policy development. Identifies and implements methods to ensure intelligence is of a high quality. Encourages others to analyse data from different angles, using multiple perspectives to identify connections and new insights. Tailors research investment in line with likely impact for Londoners and policy priorities. Retains a bigger picture view, ensuring research recommendations are appropriate and practical for the GLA and its stakeholders.

Organisational awareness… is understanding and being sensitive to organisational dynamics, culture and politics across and beyond the GLA and shaping our approach accordingly. Uses understanding of differences between the GLA and its partners to improve working relationships. Helps others understand the GLA and the complex environment in which it operates. Translates changing political agendas into tangible actions. Considers the diverse needs of Londoners in formulating GLA objectives. Helps others understand how the media and external perceptions of the GLA influence work.

This role is based at London Fire Brigade’s Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL).

If you would like to apply for the role you will need to submit the following:

• Personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words. Please ensure you address how you demonstrate the essential criteria outlined above in the advert.
• Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement have a maximum file size of 1.5MB each and upload your Personal Statement to the ‘CV and Cover Letters’ section of the form, ensuring you address the technical requirements and competencies in your Personal Statement.
• Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement are saved with the job reference number as part of the naming convention (E.g., “CV – applicant name - 012345)

As part of GLA’s continuing commitment to be an inclusive and equal opportunity employer we will be removing personal identifiable information from CVs and Personal Statements that could cause discrimination. We may close this advert early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications.

If you wish to talk to someone about the role, the hiring manager Maria Portugal would be happy to speak to you. Please contact them at maria.portugal@london.gov.uk

This role DOES NOT meet the criteria for sponsorship for external candidates. It may meet the criteria for sponsorship for some internal candidates, in limited circumstances. Please contact the hiring manager if you wish to discuss this further.

Once you have submitted an application, your details will be reviewed by a panel. If shortlisted, you’ll be invited to an interview/assessment.

London's diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part-time work as this role is open to job share.

Please note we are a Disability Confident Employer so for candidates who wish to be considered under the scheme and meet the essential criteria, they will automatically be invited to interview. Please note, should you require any adjustments through the process, we will accommodate as much as possible. Please contact the recruitment team for further information if required.

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

In addition to a good salary package, you will be paid every four weeks, providing frequent salary payments. We also offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.

Please note, all candidates will need to confirm that the information provided in this application form is true and correct. Should a candidate deliberately give false information, including the use of AI software, they understand that this would disqualify them from consideration. Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record (DBS) check but some roles may require additional security screening.

The GLA is proud to be a Level 2: Disability Confident employer. We are committed to becoming a more inclusive and accessible organisation, and creating a truly inclusive and accessible workplace and culture for our disabled staff. We have named Disability Equality as a key corporate priority within our EDI Strategy. We welcome and encourage applications from disabled applicants. Should you wish to opt into the scheme, please let us know during your application.

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